Beaver Creek will expand by 250 acres with a new detachable quad for the 2020-21 ski season, the resort has confirmed. The expansion will feature 17 “groomable glades” for guests seeking low angle adventure at high elevation. “McCoy Park is a separate, family-friendly zone allowing for a more relaxed experience for beginner families,” Vail Resorts notes, describing the terrain as “welcoming for beginner and intermediate skiers to connect and elevate their mountain experience.” The new runs will be accessible from the existing Larkspur, Strawberry Park and Upper Beaver Creek Mountain Express lifts.
Transporting 2,400 skiers per hour, the high speed McCoy Park Express will span approximately 5,900 feet in length with a vertical rise of 840′. A manufacturer was not announced but Doppelmayr has built every new lift at Beaver Creek since 2003. The McCoy Park expansion was first proposed in late 2017 and green lighted by the Forest Service last November. A second lift for egress from McCoy Park was also approved but is not yet slated for construction.
Lift Blog 
Looks to me like egress is via Larkspur Bowl. And for those entering via the Strawberry Park Express and Upper Beaver Creek Mountain Express, there will be an entrance trail between the snowshoe and nordic zones.
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Yes, you will be able to access Primrose from the top of the lift.
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Consulting the trail map, the new blue runs look like they will begin off of Primrose.
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The proposed lift will actually be about 6000 feet long and 864 vertical. Very flat. I think the 4700 foot length was for a different alignment from the old 2 lift plan.
I think they should make sure the Strawberry Park Express is set up for people to download on skis (like Riva Bahn at Vai) if it isn’t already. There is only one green route to the base which doesn’t appear particularly easy to find and would likely get very crowded at the end of the day. If people can ride the lift down it would likely reduce accidents a great deal. It seems they aren’t going to be replacing it with a gondola at this time even though that was originally proposed.
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Yeah, when I tried to measure the lift line in Google Earth, I came up with a length that was about 1.2 miles long.
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I know this comment is 2 years late but Strawberry park has been downloadable on skis because Nordic skiiers and snowshoes need a way down from the cross country zone
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I think Beaver Creek had a typo. In the White River document at the document below it states 5900 FT in Length, 840 in Vertical.
Thanks
Alex
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Click to access 107815_FSPLT3_4487681.pdf
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“The chairlift will be
constructed with a design capacity between
2,000 and 2,400 people per hour (pph) and a
length of approximately 5,900 feet. The chairlift
will have a bottom terminal elevation of
approximately 9,500 feet with a vertical rise of
approximately 840 feet”
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I believe Strawberry Park is designed for skier downloading at 50%. They have to slow down the lift at the bottom for skiers to unload, so from about 2:30-4:00 the lift would crawl. They may let ski school ride down though. Maybe they could do a bottom station unloading ramp?
A 6/8 chondola would be a nice replacement for Strawberry Park with one cabin every three chairs. The cabins would load/unload on the downhill side. Chairs would be so skiers would not have to take off all of their equipment if they wanted to lap the lift. You would have to download on the gondolas though. This current lift must have 30,000+ hours on it. Maybe upgrade in 2021?
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Primrose is a very flat and pretty long traverse I don’t see this being a good thing for beginners. An egress lift will most likely be needed. People download Strawberry now and they have to slow the lift for every guest getting on and getting off. This will be a nightmare.
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“McCoy Park Express will span approximately 5,900 feet in length with a vertical rise of 840“
What a complete nightmare. Total waste of a lift. Too long for beginners / low intermediates and too flat for anyone else.
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I guess it’s meant to provide another beginner area that’s not as trafficked as the Cinch Express and Red Buffalo Express lifts. The only way the lift would be more practical would be if it had a means of access from the Bachelor Gulch Express, so it could be used as a pass through from Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead.
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Agree. Looks like they brought it further downslope than originally planned int he 2010 MDP but not far enough to be accessible from Bachelor Gulch, which I think is a missed opportunity.
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Well, it’d have been more a useful pass-through for Bachelor Gulch guests, as Arrowhead traffic would still use the Upper Beaver Creek Mountain Express to move over to the Talons and the Beaver Creek Mountain areas.
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You literally give the most negative possible outlook on everything on liftblog. Some skiers are beginners too!! Be more positive Peter K
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In regards to the PETER K’s statement, yes, this lift is too long for small children, but it’s perfect for the older crowd who is just learning the sport. This area will allow teenagers and young adults to escape the chaos of small children and progress their skill set than have the constant irritation of unstrapping or strapping in or worry about running into someone as this area will be less crowded.
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I disagree that it’s too long, I teach kids ski school and am able to get 6 year olds down a 2 mile long run with 1700′ drop. Now sure, it’s not exactly quick, but it’s possible.
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Great news for Beaver Creek, improving on their already impressive offering of beginner terrain. The progression from Haymeadow to Red Buffalo to McCoy Park takes a beginner from learning to ski/ride to comfortably experimenting on blue terrain, all in areas that prevent interactions with higher ability levels on the mountain that can be intimidating and scary.
Eliminating the egress lift and access from Bachelor Gulch prevents higher level skiers/riders from using McCoy Park as a shortcut to the top of Larkspur Bowl and Strawberry Park, keeping it sheltered from the rest of the mountain. There is also the benefit of not running a lift over the cross-country ski terrain so it is a little quieter.
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